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Darren Coleman wants the Waratahs to become the Chicago Bulls of Super Rugby. To get anywhere near the heights of the famous NBA side, the Waratahs need to win over Sydney.
It starts by toppling the Brumbies on Friday in their return to the Allianz Stadium.
Over the years Australian rugby’s sides have failed to seize the moment. Think 2016 following the Wallabies’ run to the World Cup final?
Even last year, following the Wallabies’ brilliant win over the Springboks in Adelaide, Dave Rennie’s men travelled to Sydney for their first Test at the rebuilt Allianz Stadium but dished up an appalling opening 20 minutes and never recovered.
Now, with more than 30,000 people expected to watch the Australian derby, the Waratahs at a bare minimum must deliver a performance worth returning for. Only then will Coleman’s desire to become a rock star team come to fruition.
“The first thing I said when I got the job and I was in the Staples Centre was I want to have that vision of riding the team bus into the stadium, people walking down the hill from Paddington and the pubs around full of people in blue jerseys,” Coleman said on Sunday.
Darren Coleman wants the Waratahs to be the Chicago Bulls of Australian Super Rugby franchises. Photo: Jenny Evans/Getty Images
The Waratahs are missing one destructive second-rower, but they’ve got depth at hooker, in the back-row and particularly in the inside backs.
Kurtley Beale’s court case has thrown up a selection conundrum at fullback, too.
They are the selection headaches for Coleman heading into the opening round.
Dave Porecki is the incumbent hooker, so it’s more than likely he will start in the No.2 jersey despite not playing any minutes during the trials.
2019 World Cup hooker Tolu Latu is back in blue, but whether he is rushed straight back into the Waratahs remains to be seen. Mahe Vailanu has been a trusted player under Coleman and the coach could opt to pick the well-travelled hooker.
Ned Hanigan’s injury means Jed Holloway will start in the second-row.
Lachlan Swinton’s extra height and muscle will likely be even more important with the second-row lean.
It’s, in part, why Charlie Gamble could find himself at the back of the scrum.
Charlie Gamble could end up at the back of the scrum for the Waratahs. Photo: Kelly Defina/Getty Images
While Wallabies rookie Langi Gleeson featured prominently on last year’s end of season spring tour, his hard running could give the Waratahs the extra run they need off the bench.
The big question is what to do at fly-half?
Ben Donaldson or Tane Edmed? Donaldson is the Wallaby but the Waratahs highly rate Edmed. If Beale was available, it would have been fascinating to see who they would have picked.
They could end up naming teenage prodigy Max Jorgensen but given his rawness, they might settle on naming Donaldson in the jersey and freeing up Edmed at fly-half.
Dylan Pietsch’s quad injury could influence the selection of the Waratahs’ bench make-up while Ben Donaldson (L) is likely to wear the No.15 jersey. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
The other two selection headaches, which could mean Jorgensen starts, is the fitness of winger Dylan Pietsch and Test outside centre Izaia Perese.
Both are touch and go with minor quad injuries, but will be put through their paces on Monday to see whether they are fit.
If Perese is ruled out, Mosese Tuipulotu will likely start at outside centre while if Pietsch is ruled out, Nemani Nadolo or Jorgensen will likely start on the wing.
They’re big decisions ahead for Coleman, but the second-year Super Rugby head coach wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We’ve had to screw up and throw away the the motivational handbook of last year,” Coleman told The Roar Rugby podcast.
“It probably didn’t sit well with the Waratahs overall as an organisation, but we had crappy facilities, we had no Wallabies, we hadn’t won a game and we had a rookie coach, so I used that as motivation.
“I read a bit more social media than I should and comments around what people were expecting us to do in that ’22 season were pretty motivating because no one gave us a shot.
“I remember saying to my boys that Rocky analogy that we were Rocky and we were going to get Ivan Drago and I’ve got to throw that out. Now we’re Ivan Drago. We’ve got a strong team, we’ve got a flash new training facility and a brand new stadium and we’re back to where we should be: the Waratahs in Sydney, it’s Australia’s biggest city, it’s Australia’s biggest lifeblood of rugby, it shouldn’t ever be calling itself an underdog.
“We’ve had to recalibrate what our goals are and what it means to be a Waratah. I want this to be a hard team to make. If you’re selected or you get a contract with the Waratahs, it’s a big deal. I’ll get laughed at, but you’re in the Chicago Bulls … there’s no reason the Waratahs, with what we have feeding into us both player base and the city of Sydney and the money that’s around Sydney and all those sort of things, the business connections, it can’t be the greatest provincial union in the world.
“I’m not coming out there trumpeting that we’re doing that immediately, but that’s what I want our players to feel like and that’s what I want them to shoot for and that starts with taking a step forward in ’23.
“We want to be in the top four, we want to have home playoff games, we want to dominate the Wallaby selections at the World Cup and we want players from other teams looking over the fence going, ‘I want to be there. That’s a high performance environment that’s fun to be in and wins games of football in front of full stadiums.’
15: Ben Donaldson
14: Mark Nawaqanitawase
13: Izaia Perese
12: Lalakai Foketi
11: Dylan Pietsch
10: Tane Edemed
9: Jake Gordon
8: Charlie Gamble
7: Michael Hooper
6: Lachlan Swinton
5: Taleni Seu
4: Jed Holloway
3: Archer Holz
2: Dave Porecki
1: Angus Bell
Mahe Vailanu, Tom Lambert, Te Tera Faulkner, Hugh Sinclair, Langi Gleeson, Harrison Goodard, Max Jorgensen, Nemani Nadolo
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.